This novel turns the standard manga/anime canon somewhat on its head, as it takes place after the encounter with Rezo and Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, but before the battles with Copy Rezo, which is the second arc of the first season. The Sorcerer of Atlas on the other hand, takes place after Lina reaches Atlas City and gets involved in the struggles of the local Sorcerers Guild, culminating in her clash with Halcyform. These, you will recall, are the first series of events in Slayers NEXT.

In effect, the original novel stories had the following sequence of events:

Pentagrams are used to create a field that interferes with and weakens all magical power within it. A characteristic peculiar to this spell is that the field’s power increases not only in proportion to the skill of the spellcaster, but also to the overall size of the field.

In other words, if it were big enough, a ward could seal even my powers, no matter how amateur the sorcerer who created it. Of course – not that I’m bragging, but even at that size, I wasn’t exactly shaking in my boots. (pg. 89-90)

We saw Mazenda use similar techniques, but Lina describes it in detail here. Note that the pentagram was the size of a huge room in Daymia’s mansion, and even at that size, ordinarily, Lina’s magic was powerful enough not to be affected.

My levitation spell could normally lift a fully-loaded wagon with no problem. Although Daymia’s ward had dampened some of my power, the effect shouldn’t have been too severe. Our fall would quickly have come to a…uh…How come we’re not stopping?

We weren’t exactly in a freefall, but we were definitely still falling, descending into a pit so deep it seemed as if there were no bottom. (pg. 92)

This shows that even sealed, Lina’s levitation is a powerful force, and she is able to levitate seemingly heavy things, although she certainly has better raw strength feats than that.

Moving on…

Originally, Rune Breakers were designed to reduce the damage caused by offensive spells, weaken curses, that kind of thing. They don’t usually sweat the small stuff, like levitation spells. My best guess was that the two chambers above and below ground had combined to multiply their effects exponentially, to the point that they interfered with and absorbed all types of magic. Even the radiance of the lighting spell I’d just cast was weaker than usual. (pg. 95)

So we see that the sealing spell, called “Rune Breaker” can actually dissolve and absorb all kinds of magic. We see it clearly here:

My fireball could normally melt steel, sure, but inside the Rune Breaker, it did little more than heat the air. (pg. 97)

This could potentially be quantified, if we could only get a volume for the steel. How much does it take to do that versus heat the air? Either way, the energy output is dropped by a lot due to the effects of the Rune Breaker. The Rune Breaker spell can be amplified even further by sorcerers with an affinity for a certain element.

“Some sorcerers have an affinity for fire, and others have an affinity for water, see? It’s a lot like the cat-dog thing”

Though I limited my explanation to the four elements – earth, water, fire, and air – used in Shamanic Magic, the same principle can apply to Black Magic, curses, Astral Side Shamanic Magic, and even white magic.

“So when a sorcerer with an affinity for water uses water-related spells, the effects are more powerful – it’s like they’re kicked up a notch.”

“So when you say Daymia’s a water person, you mean he has an affinity for water.” Gourry clarified.

“Yes. When a person uses some spell or other, if it’s related to his personal element, the spell’s power increases. Or, they could make an effort to include the element – like putting water over a ward to amplify it.”

“Huh…” Gourry folded his arms. “So you’re saying when Daymia made this ward to weaken magic, he used this water to make the effects even stronger?”

I nodded heavily. “Yep. But this is all speculation. The real question is what to do about this water.” pg. 98-99

That’s pretty straightforward. Elemental manipulation seems to be not only an offensive power, but an amplification tool as well in the world of Slayers.

Moving on…

The way I figured it, there were two ways to go about this: The first was to cast a water element spell which would, assuming it functioned properly, allow a person to breathe water. (pg. 105)

That hasn’t been seen elsewhere, as far as I’m aware. Option #2 was one we’re familiar with – cast a Ray Wing to act as an air bubble underwater.

A woman? You…you bear me no malice, I sense…which means that you are not an ally of Tarim and Daymia.

“H-hey, whoa now, slow down a minute!” I said aloud, trying to parse out who was talking to me and what the heck he meant.

There’s no need to shout. I can hear your thoughts.

I blushed at the very idea.

Telepathy is a technique whereby one transmits thoughts to another person. Vocalizing language is unnecessary around a telepathic sorcerer. Talented telepaths are born, not made – and needless to say, I wasn’t one of them. So, the fellow in the jewel was using telepathy to send me his thoughts, and to hear my voice in return. Of course, it was entirely possible that his ability was not magical in nature. If it had been, I doubt he’d have been able to use it under the circumstances – at the very center of the Rune Breaker. (pg. 107-8)

This last point was later made moot because Halcyform was a collaborator with Daymia.

Now there’s something cool about the Sword of Light that we didn’t know before:

I didn’t need to spell out that the thing I didn’t want him to go for prematurely was the Sword of Light. Pureblood Mazoku like Gio and Seigram are impervious to physical attacks. For the most part, spells are ineffective as well. The Sword of Light, however, possesses the capacity to render an opponent’s soul asunder. It’s a sword capable of destroying existence itself. (pg. 122)

We sort of knew this before, given its effectiveness against Mazoku, but it’s nice to hear about it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Next up, some Mazoku biology-messing:

Whizz! A low sound, like the buzzing of insect wings, filled my ears. A few hairs were ripped out of my head, and the end of my cloak was torn apart. The brunt of the blow passed, but a strange feeling of discomfort lingered.

A miasma shock wave! It had to have been.

That was a dangerous trick. If one of his hands or feet had managed to touch me, the miasma would have spread through my body and short-circuited my bioelectrical system, resulting in death. Not even a giant could withstand a blow like that. (pg. 124)

So our Mazoku friends have another addition to their bag of tricks that was not seen in the anime or manga.

The bad news was that I couldn’t see Gio. The good news was that he couldn’t see me, either. Mazoku can sense malice and enmity in humans, and they use those sentiments like homing devices, so Gourry and I were fighting hard to suppress our emotions. (pg. 125)

We again knew this by implication in other mediums, but the novel is doing a good job explaining things very clearly.

Next up, we have something most interesting:

Damn you! He [Gio] cried, and thrust out his remaining hand outward.

The shock wave lunged toward Gourry. Even he couldn’t dodge it at that range!

“Nnguh!” Gourry grunted and maneuvered. The Sword of Light absorbed the miasma wave, reducing it to a harmless breeze. Both Gio and I stared, agog. (pg. 126)

Gourry dodged a “miasma shock wave” after lopping off Gio’s arm and being attacked by his other, far arm. At such close range, he still dodged the shock wave. Is a miasma shock wave the same as a real shock wave? Unsure, we’ll need to find out later. For the record, it’s useful that we have an image:

When used against humans, the most this spell [Elmekia Lance] is cause mental collapse. Since demons are almost purely Astral beings, however, a direct hit could be fatal. (pg. 128)

But it wasn’t against Gio, or any other Mazoku worth his salt, for that matter. Still, it’s a useful spell, as we can see.

A display of stealth is the next feat:

I stopped him long enough to cast a spell around him. I chose a wind barrier, similar to Ray Wing, but a bit stronger. This barrier prevents internal sounds from escaping. You could flip over a china cabinet, and no one outside would hear so much as a clank. (pg. 160)

Metal Gear Lina.

Next up, a new take on an old feat:

Shadow Snap. It’s a spell used to seal an opponent’s movements from the Astral side. Since demons are basically Astral life forms, it’s especially effective against them. (pg. 200)

We knew about Shadow Snap before, but I never knew it was effective against Mazoku.

Now some more about the Sword of Light:

The Sword of Light’s destructive capacity is in direct proportion to the strength of the wielder’s will. If driving all of my will into a single blow wasn’t enough to destroy him [Seigram], then what the hell was it gonna take?

This was shown elsewhere, but it’s good to see it here.

Now, for the finale, and it’s a good one:

“In my immortality research, I came across an old scroll,” Halcyform said. “That scroll was an instructional manual used to help the reader consumer another being’s soul and acquire its strengths and abilities.”

“So, th-then you…” I hated that my voice was shaking.

The White Sorcerer nodded silently and, as always, smiled.

“As expected, consuming him has extended my life and heightened my capabilities. I chose an excellent subject indeed.”

“Mazoku…” I muttered.

“Indeed. Consuming him was, of course, not very easy. That is why I instructed Gio to fight you. In a weakened state, he would be more suitable for my experiment.” (pg. 205)

So Halcyform is kind of Jedah-lite – he can absorb the souls of even Mazoku (with difficulty) and acquire their abilities. This is certainly a boon for him, and for Slayers in general.

And that ends The Sorcerer of Atlas. Halcyform meets essentially the same fate as in NEXT – the Pledge Stone with Seigram is destroyed and Halcyform dies.